Yttria
by Phoenix122333
Summary: Something went wrong with the Leviathan's wormhole generator. Not only transported to Earth,but eighty years in the past as well,bounty hunter Samus Aran must work together with a teenage boy of the era to return to her own time. And maybe save some people along the way...
1. Infinity

_** A vein throbbed on the forehead of a very ticked-off author as he navigated the many hidden corners and crevices that made up his phone's storage system. After checking everywhere for the thousandth time, he sighs and starts typing the beginning of his story again. "Guess the Gods weren't happy with the last Author's Note...it's not even **_**important**_**, just a little 'oh hey there, reader', a 'thanks for taking the time to read this, hope you enjoy!'. Most people just skip over them! But nooo, **_**my**_** author's notes have to be full-blown stories, practically part of the chapter themselves!", he ranted to himself, occasionally looking skyward in annoyance. "When I said I was bad at beginning a story, I expected a snarky comment written in leetspeak, not for Hermes to mess up my phone on purpose!", he seethed, then, "Or maybe it's Ghor, trying to dissuade me from writing this from Android Heaven! **_**Well it ain't go'n work, Ghor!**_**", he shouted to the ceiling, resuming his typing with new-found vigor. "I'll show him...", he muttered to himself evilly.**_

We were sitting in the living room, bored out of our minds. The TV was on, but nobody was watching. My sister was on her phone, my brother was on his tablet, and I was dozing off. Melissa sighed and put her phone into sleep mode, glancing in my direction. With a bored expression on her face, she started poking me. "I wanna _go _somewhere!", Arthur announced suddenly, getting to his feet and going to bug our Mom. After a second, Melissa mercifully ceased her poking, got to her feet, and proclaimed, "Me too.", going to stand beside Arthur. I shrugged, successfully awakened by the poking, and stood beside my siblings, commenting, "Yeah, I could go for a ride.". Mom regarded us warily before sighing and saying in a resigned tone, "Alright, let's go.", and my brother and sister cheered before rushing upstairs for socks. I chuckled and slipped my shoes on, checking my pocket for my phone. It was there. I opened the door to go to the car, then stopped as I suddenly shuddered, for some reason, in the middle of July. Why? I had a strange feeling that...something was going to go wrong. Something...big. I stood in the doorway for a moment, then quickly shot my hand out as my dog, Phoenix, tried to slip past me into the night. I gave him a biscuit and closed the door after my family. "Oh hey Dad. Did you decide to join us?", I asked him, mildly surprised, and received a nod in answer. I waved it off, as well as my earlier feeling. It was probably nothing...

"To ice cream we will go! To ice cream we will go! High ho the dairy-o, to ice cream we will go!", my family sang, and I added in a bored tone, "Jazz hands...". Melissa let out a 'pfft' noise and put her ear buds in, starting up some music. I began to doze again, kept awake only by Arthur's continued singing of, "To ice cream we will go...". I looked out the window lazily, flicking my gaze up at the stars to watch their slow pulsating light. So...soothing...so...hypnotic...so...Wait a minute. Pulsating? Stars don't pulsate. At least...I think they don't. One of them, slightly to the left in my field of vision, began to flash brighter, getting almost as bright as the moon before a shining beam shot out and connected to another star. I watched, wide-eyed, as the beam continued, joining star after star until a giant sideways eight hung in the sky. _Infinity_..., I thought in wonder as the star located at the crossing point began to contract into a single, almost blinding pinprick in the sky, the others getting dimmer. The Crossing Star continued growing brighter until, with a flash, it promptly exploded into a swirling purple vortex. From the mass of light barreled a fiery comet, followed by a red and yellow shape. My mouth fell open as the shape blurred into a red line, a line that sped toward Earth with remarkable speed, and as it came out of hyperspace I was able to recognize the now much closer object.

My Dad slammed on the brakes as Samus' Gunship landed in front us, two guns protruding from the wings folding down to act as stilts as the rear thrusters kept it from toppling over. "What is that thing!?", my Mom screamed, and it took me a few moments to answer, "It's...Samus Aran's gunship.", and as I said it I realized _exactly _what I just said. Samus. Aran's. Gunship. "Oh Gods...wow.", I muttered, slowly opening the door and ignoring my parents' angry and startled cries. I approached the Gunship slowly, suspicion stirring within me. _Why hasn't she come out yet? Maybe the elevator's jammed? ...Or...maybe she's hurt! Maybe Space Pirates snuck onto her ship!_, I thought-panicked, and ran up to the raised elevator platform.

A new problem then presented itself. How could I get in? From what I'd seen, this thing was super durable, and only Ghor's battlesuit had _any _hope of breaking into it without equipment. How was _I, _a battlesuit-depraved human _child_, supposed to break into this super hi-tech, heavily fortified gunshi- ...oh, there was a password.

It was a four digit password, the characters being symbols that looked vaguely like Chozo footprints to me. What could it be? Her birthday? No, too obvious. The number of times she's killed Ridley? No, she's only _almost _at double digits. The number of places she's blown up or destroyed? Again, _almost _at double digits. Her age followed by her weight? How off Earth would I know that, even if it _was _the password? I sighed and glanced behind me to see my parents gesturing furiously to _come back here right now, young man_! I smiled slightly, their antics almost distracting me from the problem at hand. _Almost_. I turned back to the panel, craning my neck to get a better look at the symbols, and saw something...odd. And worrying.

Her Phazon corruption must not have been purged yet. I could see faint glowing trail of fingerprints, and I say trail because they were smeared into a line. She must have been tired when she entered the password. Or...dizzy, from loss of blood, maybe? Or fighting hard against Dark Samus' control, or being chased by Pirates, or...calm down. She was probably just tired. I pressed lightly against the symbols in the order of the line, careful to avoid the blue glow. The panel flashed red and emitted a buzzer. I huffed and entered it again, this time the other way around. The panel chimed a confirmation, flashed green, and almost released the elevator onto my foot. I managed to twitch it out of the way in time, though.

I cautiously stepped onto the floor panel, and the platform shuddered as the mechanism pulled it into the ship. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could see that the captain's chair was reclined in the cryo-sleep position and the instruments were dim. I stepped forward slowly, making my way around the chair's right side to see Samus' prone form. Gone were any traces of a Power Suit, revealing the Zero Suit underneath. I could see the Paralyzer strapped to her thigh, but I wasn't paying attention to that. I was looking at her glowing blue eyes, crackling with suppressed Phazon energy.

_ Not good._, I thought decisively, turning slightly to press the Biohazard Scan button. I stepped to the left side of the chair as the Diagnosis Panel extended, reaching forward to twist the knob for the presumably-unconscious bounty hunter. The arrows lined up, the bars appeared, and the panel scanned the results before proclaiming, 'Status: Corrupted', switching shortly to, 'Corruption Level: 100%'. Then something new appeared, something I hadn't seen before: 'Attempt to siphon excess Phazon?', over a green and red button. Glancing at Samus, I tapped the green button.

The chair abruptly made itself vertical again as something that looked like an artificial Metroid lowered itself onto Samus' head. The fangs penetrated her skin, and the nuclei inside slowly lit up blue as, hopefully, the excess Phazon was drained from Samus' system. Her eyes _did _seem a little dimmer...My attention was brought back to the Diagnosis Panel as a new message flashed up, 'Phazon siphoning in progress. Estimated time of completion: One hour.'. I had to stay here for an hour? Wait...the _ship _had to stay here for an hour!? Nuh uh, that wasn't an option. The military was probably already on their way here to seize the thing, provided anybody called and they didn't think it was a joke. No, this ship had to move _now, _and I had _no _idea how to make it without Samus. I lifted her hand and placed it against the scanner, but nothing happened. She probably needed to be conscious, or maybe it didn't recognize her due to the Phazon. Either way, I was stuck. Unless...

I searched around on the instrument panel in front of me, and it didn't take long to find a flashing light with the word 'Message' on it. I quickly flipped the switch below it, and Aurora Unit 242 appeared in all her holographic glory. I knew it was a her even before she started talking because, apparently, they had given her hologram an upgrade. Instead of a giant floating brain, she was now a complete holographic person. She looked somewhat like Gandrayda, but had a billowy shawl wrapped around her shoulders and tights running down her legs. Also she had all her skin. Sort of a mix between Fi and Cortana, with Gandrayda's shade of purple. "Samus, where are you? You never came out the other...you aren't Samus Aran.", she stated plainly, and I agreed, "No, I'm not. I'm Jason Thrace, human, speaking to you from Samus' Gunship in the year 2013. It seems the Leviathan's, maybe because of a malfunction or maybe because of the code Samus entered, not only made a tunnel through space, but _time_ as well. Anyways, that's not the reason I answered. As you no doubt know, military from this era have _no _clue about the galaxy, and our technology is primitive. It would be catastrophic if they found Samus' ship. Imagine it, humans given Chozo tech before they get farther than Mars. The damage to the time stream would be horrible!". The AU hummed in agreement before saying, "Alright, I see your point. Archaic cavemen finding Samus' gunship would be horrible, and my temporal scanners indicate you are telling the truth about Samus' time jump. I will activate a heading override the Galactic Federation built into the ship.". "I resent that caveman comment. And I can only _imagine _the words Samus would use if she found out about that heading override.", I told 242, and she nodded in agreement.

I sat down on the floor of the ship as we lifted off, pulling out my phone and calling my parents. "What's happening!? That ship is leaving with you!", my Mom screamed, and I told her soothingly, "Calm down Mum, it's not going anywhere. It just has to move so the military doesn't find it.", and she screeched, "THAT'S NOT 'NOT GOING ANYWHERE!'". I sighed and said, "Look, I have to turn my phone off so the military or police or...whoever can't track it. I'll come back when I can.". "Don't you _dare _hang up on me young man!", she screeched, and I was forced to resort to saying, "Oh, the ship's_sshhhhh..._uments are..._shhhhhh..._fering with the sig_shhhhhh..._", before I turned the device off and pulling the battery out. I sighed in relief and turned to 242 to ask, "So where are we going?". "A small, uncharted island off the coast of your current landmass.", she answered, and I supplied helpfully, "Canada.", then gazed thoughtfully at the organic construct as something occured to me. "Hey, 242? What happened to the Leviathan?", I asked, and the ship almost fell out of the sky. "Scanners on Samus' gunship indicate that the Leviathan is currently heading toward your planet at an alarming rate.", the construct said shakily, and I responded with a, "WHAT!?". I rushed over to Samus, checking the Diagnostic Panel. 'Estimated time to completion: 45 Earth minutes', it said, and I quickly asked 242, "How long until planetary impact?", waiting barely a second before receiving, "Half an Earth hour.", as an answer. I let out a strangled noise before asking, "Any way to speed up the Phazon leeching process?".

"Well, if you activated Hypermode manually and made her shoot her cannon, the excess Phazon would be drained, but...", she started before I cut her off with, "But she put herself in stasis so Dark Samus couldn't control her, I know.". She looked affronted, and made to ask another question but thought better of it. "Well what do you suggest?", she asked instead, and I thought about it for a second before offering, "Reroute the siphon's power to the ship's thrusters and have _her _power them?", and 242 scoffed. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever...wait, that could actually work.", she amended in a surprised tone. "What, prepared to write off anything an _archaic caveman _could come up with as useless?", I said, repeating her earlier words as the ship's displays turned bright blue. She had the decency to look sheepish. The time on the Diagnostic Panel turned into a spinning Screw Attack before displaying '5 minutes'. I sighed in relief as Samus' eyes dimmed much more quickly, and soon her normal eyes stared out the viewport vacantly. We touched down on the island, and as I gazed out at it from the ship I commented, "Never noticed this place before...".

Then Samus rocketed to her feet as her suit formed around her and pointed her cannon at me, the casing bulging to show it was set to the Plasma Beam. "Who are you? How did you get in here?", she demanded, and I gently turned the weapon away from me with a fingertip. Once the business end of the superheated Chozo tech was safely away from my face I said, "I'm Jason. You went through a time warp along with the Leviathan, and are now in the past. I got in here with the password, which was smeared with Phazon fingerprints. 242 rerouted the Phazon to the thrusters to drain the mutagen in your system much more quickly than Mr. Metroid over there. And before you ask how I know what Phazon and Metroids are, don'tcha think you should take care of that Leviathan hurtling toward Earth?".

The woman blinked from behind her visor before saying quickly, "Yes. Don't go anywhere though, I want to talk to you.". As I moved to the elevator platform I said sarcastically, "We're on an _island_, dear. What am I gonna do, _swim_ to shore? This is the twenty-first century, a primitive time when not everyone is privileged enough to have a faceship.", and the elevator lowered. "Faceship?", I heard her mutter to herself before the gap closed. I stepped off the platform and regarded my surroundings as Samus took off, bound for the Leviathan. There wasn't much that I could see, owing to the fact that there was a dense forest covering much of the island. I tilted my head and stared at the forest, then looked up at the glowing dot in the sky that was Samus' ship. I looked back at the forest, shrugged, and started walking. _I hope there aren't any Space Pirates in here._, I thought to myself, stepping over roots and pushing leaves out of the way. My foot squelched, and I had to force myself to not look down and simply wipe it on some grass. Thoroughly. I kept walking, quickly getting bored as I discovered nothi - OH MY FUCKING GOD, A CHOZO GHOST!

It was true. Flitting in between the trees was one of the pale apparitions usually found on Tallon IV. _What the HELL is it doing _here_!?_, I thought to myself, dodging a freezing cold blast of energy, _And what does it want from me!?_. I decided to voice the question, yelling out, "What do you want from me!?", as I rolled to avoid another blast. And it stopped. Stopped flying around, stopped blasting me, didn't even go invisible. Just stopped. Then it flew at me, far faster than I could run, and as it touched me, I looked into it's eyes. All I saw there was cold, insanity, and death.

_**The author sighs in content, letting his phone fall from his hands as he cracks his neck. "There.", he says to himself, "My greatest, most serious fic to date. Well, the first chapter, anyways. I wonder, should there be a second?".**_

_**(If that hint just kinda...soared over your head, I was asking you all if I should continue. I'm also wondering if there's anything I could do to make it better. Tell me in your reviews! ...Please.)**_


	2. The Bio Labs

**The author stretched ad settled down at the kitchen table, intent on writing the next chapter of Yttria. **_**Hooray, it's chapter two time! Wondering what's going to happen with the Chozo Ghost? So am I! You people **_**do **_**realize I make these things up as I go, right?.**_** Deciding that most everyone would just skip this part over, he went ahead to start the **_**real **_**story.**

The Ghost flew into me at a breakneck speed, and I was catapulted back as if hit by a car. I landed on the ground a few yards away, dimly aware of the insane amount of luck needed to make me miss every single tree that could have been in my way. This was eclipsed, however, by the Ghost. I could _feel _it occupying the same space as my body, the intense cold that seemed to radiate from my very core but was really coming from the Phazon-altered alien. It dulled my muscles, clouded my mind, and glazed my eyes the longer it was there. Then, suddenly, inexplicably...it was gone. I felt relieved, but at the same time anxious that it would be back. The feeling slowly came back to my limbs, more specifically the feeling of hitting the ground.

I groaned in pain and lifted my head some, looking around for the Chozo Ghost. I couldn't see it anywhere, but of course that didn't mean anything. I struggled to my feet and staggered off into the woods. The only reason that I didn't head back to the beach was I did _not _want to be near water - easily frozen water - should the spirit show up again. The pain quickly faded and soon I was running, pushing foliage out of my face as I struggled deeper into the untamed wild of the island - an island I was _sure _wasn't here yesterday. Maybe Samus' coming back in time had more serious repercussions than I thought. I stumbled over a root but regained my footing, slowing to a jog as the foliage grew thicker. It almost seemed like a _barrier_, deterring me from traveling further inland. To distract myself from this somewhat disturbing thought I started naming all the different plants I could see.

A pine tree I saw off to my left, and to my right a cluster of maple trees. Next to the maple trees was a couple of oak trees, and across from them was...a banana tree? I furrowed my brow and slowed, letting my eyes wander to a bush situated at the base of the out-of-place tree. Blueberries? Stopping entirely, I turned in a full circle and studied everything more closely. I saw vines creeping up a field of bamboo growing off the the side, patches of mint leaves dotted around gum trees, sugarcane growing in between mango trees...this was a very strange island. These kinds of plants _never _grew in Canada's climate, and if they did they didn't survive long. I slowly started walking again, taking note of every should-be-dead plant as I went along and feeling proud of myself for doing so...until I reached the cyrlic tree. Then all thought process stopped.

There, standing in front of me proudly, was a tree bio-engineered by the Chozo to provide natural platforms. Judging by the height and thickness of the thing it had been here a very long time, and it looked healthy and cared for. There was probably a nutrient storage box buried underground that the roots had penetrated, but that wasn't the point. If this island had been here before, somebody would have discovered this artificial plant, along with the hodge-podge of Earth plants, and wondered where they had come from. There would have been huge press coverage. But there wasn't. No word got out, and nobody was informed. This left me with three viable possibilities: One, the government had covered it up, two, nobody had discovered it, or three...this island wasn't here until recently. I found number two highly unlikely because, being on the coast, Vancouver was very big on boats, and number one was out because the cyrlic tree would have had samples taken from it. That left possibility three, the island wasn't here until recently.

That one solved question raised so many more. For one, how? How could you hide an entire _island _until a certain time? And why did it's appearance coincide with Samus' arrival in this time period? It could have been a coincidence, but I didn't think so. Also, why all the different plants in one place? Was it like a seed vault, a place to store samples of plants in the event of planetary disaster? Or was it a source of food?

I decided to explore the rest of the island in the hopes of finding some answers. I moved around the cyrlic tree and caught sight of more alien flora. Blueroot trees from Aether. The glowing fungi called saturnine, beautiful Red Starburst flowers, and bio-engineered sandgrass from Tallon IV. Kashh plants and spaikk bushes from Bryyo. And these were just the plants I could _name_. I realized I didn't know if the ferns I pushed out of my face on the way here were from Earth or Tallon IV. Eventually the field of plants - for that's what I eventually recognized it as, an organized field - came to an end, and I was left walking along a seemingly well-worn path that evidently led to something. _Well _obviously _it leads to something._, said a snarky voice in my head, and I thought back testily, _Well ex_cuuuuse _me for doubting the conceptual elasticity of space-time on an alien-influenced island._ The voice didn't answer, and I smirked.

I came upon a fork in the path, and the only problem I could see was that the sign was written in Tallonian Chozo scripture, which was more or less claw marks to me. I resorted to letting the powers-that-be-or-not-be (What was the question again?) choose my path for me, squatting down to look at a flower on the path-side. I pointed at the petals as I said 'left' and 'right', and thirteen petals later I landed on 'left'. "I'm cured! And as soon as Doctor Jacobs gets back from walking into the unexplored part of that dark forest with his not-fully-charged flashlight, you will be too!", I muttered in mock glee, glancing around uneasily. I still expected that Chozo Ghost to come back at any second._ The Ghost isn't gonna come back._, that voice in my head said in a dismissive tone, and I thought in a deadpan tone, _Oh look. It's you. Yaaaaay... _At least he...she...it distracted me from my apprehension.

I soon came upon a building in a clearing. It looked like a structure one might find in the Chozo Ruins on Tallon IV, and I suspected that there was more underground. There was another sign in Tallonian Chozo over the door. As I approached the building slowly my eyes scanned the area around it for movement, but everything was dark. I glanced up at the comet, still heading for Earth, then down at my watch. Yes, I still wore a watch, and look how handy it came in. I squinted, unable to see the hands very well in the dim light, and was finally able to ascertain the time was six thirty-ish. I remembered my phone said it was six twenty-five when I made the call to mom, so...I'd only been on the island for five minutes? Time must have been messed up, because there's no way everything that's happened happened in _five minutes._ I shook my head in disbelief and, glancing up at the Leviathan again, threw a rock at the energy shield over the door and slipped inside.

It was very dark, first of all, darker than outside. I could only make out some weird, shadowy shapes, and I very much doubted they'd turn out to be sofas and coffee tables, so I made finding light my first priority. First I tried clapping my hands...didn't work. Then I tried touching the wall...no dice. I also tried yelling out, "Light!", at the ceiling, but that didn't work either. "You'd think the Chozo would make the lights universally accessible.", I grumbled, and the voice asked, _You would, wouldn't you? Why don't you try the Chozo word for 'light'?_ I rolled my eyes and told it, _If you happen to _know _the Chozo word for 'light', I'd love to hear it._ It immediately came up with 'Luz', and as soon as I repeated it the lights flashed on. _How did you know that!?_, I thought to the voice in surprise, and it replied, _All in due time. Now, on the ...table thing over that way, there should be a pair of glasses. Put them on._

My eyes were drawn to a circular piece of intricately carved furniture lying on the ground. The carved lines suddenly lit up with a blue light, and the 'table' slowly rose up into the air. "Table indeed.", I muttered lowly, crossing over to it and moving papers out of the way. There was, in fact, a pair of sleek glasses on the table, and I picked them up curiously. They looked like modern day sunglasses, those tinted ones with curved edges, and as I put them on I felt a little nub protruding from the top. I flicked it to the right, and suddenly everything was outlined in green. I looked at the floating table and a steady stream of words flowed across the lenses. "**Mandus Table,**", it said, "**,a floating, intricately carved table made by the finest Chozo craftsmen.**". I flicked my gaze up to look at the lights, and the text changed to, "**An advanced lighting system, derived from primitive LED lights. System is voice controlled.**". I took the glasses off in reverence, examining them from all angles as I breathed in wonder, "Wow...a self-contained, removable Scan Visor. Built into a pair of human sunglasses! These could come in very handy...", before slipping them back on. I went back outside and scanned the sign over the door. "**Bio Labs.**", the Visor told me, and the words sent a coil of fear into my stomach. _Bio Labs usually mean Metroids, don't they?_, I asked myself, but the Voice reassured me, _Don't worry, no Metroids here. No need for them._, and I sighed in relief. I stepped through the door again, looking around curiously.

"So if there aren't any Metroids, what's this facility for?", I asked myself, walking again to the Mandus table. I picked one of the papers up and scanned it. "**The efforts to recover our Phazon-afflicted friends' personality and memories is progressing slowly. Too slowly. The Great Poison is spreading by the day, the Worm growing by the hour. The poison is slowly creeping into both my dreams and, bit by bit, the dreams of others. ...We are running out of time.**", said the glasses, and below that was another entry, extremely short, that said, "**Time, the constraint that all but the Time Lords must abide by. Time, the ultimate challenge. I have decided that time will be my next project.**", and below that was a mass of numbers, calculations, and mathematical symbols. I set the paper down and picked up another, sitting down in a relatively normal chair to read.

"**My studies on time have progressed much more quickly than those on recovering our lost kin. I have, on a strange planet called Ununtrum, discovered a creature that generates a peculiar form of energy. This energy, when utilized correctly, accelerates time in a self-contained bubble around the one the energy is radiating from. I have decided to call it Shinespark energy, because when in use the energy shines around the creature and allows it to travel as fast as a spark. I've isolated the crystalline organ that produces this energy and was able to successfully extract and integrate it into a 'Shinespark Module'. I will be submitting this module for inclusion in the Power Suit as soon as I have completed this report.**".

"So that's where the Shinespark came from, huh?", I mumbled, retrieving another report that said, "**It has been approximately one month since my report on the Shinespark module, and it is the Shinespark module I now report on. Since producing another one several weeks ago, I have noticed that the crystals radiate energy on the same frequency, and by using a tool resembling a tuning fork, I can change this frequency. The effects I have been able to persistently replicate are promising. Slowing down time for the user, useful in preventing injury from long falls. Speeding up time even more than usual, so much that everyone around the one affected by the module seem frozen. And, perhaps, the one most intriguing, reversing time.**"

**"****Yes, by reversing the polarity of the Shinespark crystal I was able to rewind time for myself about a day. I think this is exactly the thing we've been looking for, because all efforts on stopping the Great Poison has failed. I have a theory that, using an augmented cluster of Shinespark crystals I have already begun working on, we could send an advanced science facility back in time. If we spread conductive rods through the ground the facility rests on, we could send an entire island back, which would allow us to plant fields for food. We would have all the time we'd need to puzzle out the problem plaguing our world. The only problem is, going back in time does not rewind the body. If we go back in time there would be no guarantee we would find an ****answer before we pass on. I will seek approval from the Council tomorrow, both because I am not sure the Cluster will work and because it is very late, and I am tired.**".

I set the paper down and sifted through the others. They were all just mathematical equations, so I leaned back in the chair and tried to think through the information I already had. "So the Leviathan's already crashed, the Phazon is spreading, Metroid Prime is getting stronger, the Chozo are being turned into Ghosts, and there's no time to figure out how to stop, or better yet, reverse it. Then a Chozo scientist discovers the time-altering properties of this Shinespark crystal and devises a way to bring a research facility back in time, giving the researchers the time they need to puzzle out how to reverse the Phazon corruption of the other Chozo. They realize that if they built the facility on Tallon IV, it would still be there, and so find a primitive planet to work undisturbed on. That planet being ancient Earth. They send the facility back in time a few decades and start studying, but if the Chozo Ghost I saw on the way in is any indication they didn't find out anything useful, so the Tallonian Chozo are doomed and the events of Metroid Prime happen as told.", I summarized, then frowned and asked, "But then... why is this place still here? Why couldn't humans see it before? And why did it appear when Samus did?". I leafed through the papers once again, just to be safe, but found nothing more.

I slowly turned my head to regard the door on the other side of the table warily. It lead deeper into the facility, and I was _sure _there would be important stuff down there, but if there's anything Metroid Prime taught me it's that scientific facilities were bad. No offense to the sea-dwelling creatures, but I always _hated_ venturing into Research Lab Hydra. Besides, I didn't have a weapon and there could be more Ghosts down there. They needed_ something _to test their theoretical cures on, right? _Right._, the Voice agreed, _And counting on a specimen escaping, they included backup weapons when they built this place. Say _senjata. I don't know why, but I did what the Voice told me to, and a panel in the floor popped open. I stood up and walked over to it, crouching to pick up a mini arm cannon. I slipped it on my right arm, it coming up to my mid-forearm, and it activated, parts of the case bulging to show the red interior of the weapon. "Plasma Cannon. Nice.", I commented, then reluctantly slipped it off and put it back. I rooted around in the weapons cache a little more before pulling out another mini arm cannon, one that stayed the shape it was when I slipped it on. "Power Beam. The only weapon that can hurt Chozo Ghosts.", I said with a smirk before firing a shot at the door and walking deeper into the facility.


	3. The Truth

I crept down the hallway slowly, eying every shadow and indent like it housed my doom. Which, of course, it might. The Power Beam was clutched tightly in my hand, the button held down and a Charge Beam at the ready. It occurred to me dimly that Samus used a configuration of her fingers to control her beams, then I simply waved the notion away. The Chozo here probably thought it was too complicated for one-beam weapons. I snapped to attention when I heard something cry out, then relaxed as I saw it was only a Shriekbat. The creature dove down and started whirling around in the air, but it was quickly dispatched by the beam's explosion. I let a smile twitch onto my lips for half a second before resuming my grim creep forward; I had no Power Suit to protect me, and danger could come from anywhere._ Nobody ever looks up, nobody ever looks up, nobody ever looks up..., _I repeated to myself, swearing that I _would_ look up. To prove the point to myself I glanced up, then jumped back and shot at the Lesser Ithrak hissing at me. I dodged to the side as it pushed off the ceiling at me and charged up a Charge Beam, aiming at the creature's head. It hissed at me and lunged again, but I slipped to the side and latched onto it's wrist, driving it's claws into the wall and effectively trapping it. I aimed again and prepared to shoot, but stopped when I heard a small cry. Hanging from the ceiling where the Ithrak once was were three tiny, mewling...things. "Lesser Ithrak infant. Totally dependent on it's mother as it cannot hunt for itself."_, _the Scan Visor reported, and I stared at them a moment longer before lowering the Power Beam and firing at the floor.

I took hold of the Ithrak's wrist and jerked it's claws out of the wall, jumping back as it swiped at my face. I held my hands up in the universal sign of surrender and backed away down the corridor, the alien looking at me suspiciously until I reached the door at the end of the hall. It climbed back up to the ceiling and settled back into it's hollow, still staring at me shrewdly. I smiled and saluted it before turning and shooting the door open. I walked through and tilted my head at the elevator platform in from of me. _I knew it. Underground., _I thought, placing my hand on the scanner to activate the hologram. I stepped into the floating diagram and a force field sprung up as the platform started to glide down the shaft.

The elevator settled smoothly at the bottom level, the wall of energy dissipating to allow me to disembark. I looked around at the carefully sculpted walls as I strode toward the door, admiring the painstaking detail with detached awe as I prepared for more danger. Taking a deep breath, I shot the door open and peeked around the frame. A long corridor extended into darkness, no energy shields in sight and no glowing fungi to be seen. Yelling out, "Luz!", did nothing, so I stretched my hand to the other side of the door frame. A circular indent in the wall prompted me to slip into the room and press the Power Beam to the hole, and I heard a low whining as a generator somewhere below started itself. The lights to flickered on and dozens of red holograms flashed up on the walls, which the Scan Visor translated to warnings of both a partial failure in the time dilation containment field and Specimen 241's escape. I made a 'huh' sound and puzzled out loud, "Dilation basically means to stretch something, so time dilation means to stretch time out. The failure in the time dilation containment is what made the island appear, the time dilation itself is what's causing time to move slower than it should, and Specimen 241...is most likely the Chozo Ghost that attacked me in the forest.".

_Correct._, the Voice said to me, and I wondered, "Is it worrying that I now think of hearing a voice in my head as normal?". _Exceptionally so._, Voice said, _Now hurry to the end of the hall. You'll find something soon, something that'll help you in your journey._ "Journey? And what journey would that be?", I asked the Voice, even as I began trudging to a distant energy shield at the end of the hall. Voicey dearest didn't answer, to my immense chagrin, but my frustration was soon forgotten as another Lesser Ithrak jumped down at me from the ceiling. A quick glance showed that it _wasn't_ a mother, so I employed the same strategy I used against the first one. Dodge, grab, wall, head. I jumped back as Ithrak brains splattered all over the wall, and after a minute of horrified staring I said shakily, "That's right, this... this is real life. Dead things bleed, explode, and _don't _disintegrate when k... when killed. Maybe I should have taken that Plasma Beam with me... you know, give the things... the things I kill a cremation.". I felt sick. I had just killed a creature whose only crime was defending itself. "If I didn't kill it it would have killed me. If I didn't kill it it would have killed me...", I repeated to myself, sitting down heavily. Picturing the thing's claws ripping my eyes out of my head helped quell the queasiness and the shock at becoming a murderer at fifteen. After a few minutes I felt I wouldn't throw up, so I stood and made my way to the door. I reached it and, pausing, looked over my shoulder at the Ithrak and whispered, "I'm sorry...".

I looked back ahead resolutely, pushing the Ithrak to the back of my mind. I cracked everything I could in preparation for what might be behind the door. I rotated my wrists, rolled my neck, cracked my back, and went up on my tiptoes to loosen up my ankles. I pressed myself against the wall of the corridor and took a deep breath, shooting the door and peeking around the frame to find...the ruins of a sixteenth century English village. "Uhhh...", was the only sound that came out of my mouth as I gazed around at the wrecked huts and crumbling stone walls. "Hey, uhm... Voice? Any reason this is, ah, here?", I asked, and the Voice replied, _Well... the Chozo weren't exactly sure about the full effects of the Shinespark cluster, so in their spare time they tested the other settings on some humans they... inconspicuously procured... from down south. I think they called themselves the Roanoke colony._ I tripped on nothing, falling flat on my face in surprise. I got up quickly and exclaimed, "_This _is where the Roanoke colony went? The Chozo_ abducted_ them?". _Well, not exactly _abducted, _more like rescued from harsh circumstances. And how do you know about the colony, anyways?_, the Voice asked, and I laughed and asked, "Who _doesn't _know about the Roanoke colony? It's famous!". The Voice made a questioning noise, so I continued, "Around the year 1600, the first English settler to be born on American soil, Virginia Dare, disappeared along with the rest of the Roanoke colony. The mayor of the colony and Virginia's grandfather, John White, had gone back to England three years prior to get more supplies. When he returned, he found nothing but the word 'Croatian' carved on one of the wooden fence posts and assumed they'd relocated to the nearby Croatian island. He wasn't able to prove it to himself though, because a fierce hurricane sent him back to England. The Roanoke colony, along with his granddaughter, were lost to time.".

_Oh..._, the Voice said simply, and I echoed sarcastically, "Yeah, oh. Great job with the 'inconspicuous' part, Chozo.". I looked around at the sprawling landscape, then said, "There _must _be a hologram terminal around here _somewhere_. Any ideas, Voice?", but it had none. _They never said anything about it, but I don't think there'd be one where they could reach it. If they wanted to test the cluster effectively, the humans would have to go abut their lives normally, so any technology accessible by them could potentially change the outcome._, the Voice said, but I argued, "The mere _observation _of an experiment changes the outcome.". _True._, the Voice acquiesced, and if it had a body I was _sure _it would be shrugging. "So where do I go from here?", I asked nobody in particular, then decided to fire a random shot into nowhere. Just to see what would happen. What happened was that the landscape, the sky, even the ground, began to flicker and disintegrate under, over, and around me. "Oh _great_, I broke the universe!", I exclaimed fearfully, jumping from a disappearing patch of ground to a stable one. I cried out in pure terror as the world disappeared fully, squeezing my eyes shut. When nothing else happened I cracked my eyes open and, high up on the now-revealed wall, saw a wall-mounted hologenerator. "Eh heh... oh.", I said lamely, smiling sheepishly before taking a reflexive step back as a section of wall next to the generator slid upward. Beyond it was a shallow alcove with a door. "Cool, way forward.", I said with a grin, jogging around a stone wall to the door and repeating my safety measure. Pressed against the wall, I looked around the frame of the now-open door, then relaxed and stepped into the hallway beyond. "So many hallways in this place. They must make up at least half the total area.", I estimated, walking down the length of it at a normal pace instead of the slow creep I had gotten used to. I casually shot a Shriekbat out of the sky as I approached the door, then jumped about a foot in the air as a cry sounded from quite close by. "I thought you said this Lab didn't have any bio-experiments in it!", I yelled accusingly, but the Voice retorted, _Noooo,_ _I said there were no _Metroids_. I said nothing about bio-experiments in general._ I made a sort of scared, half-angry whining noise and shot the door open.

After glancing around the frame and going through it I saw that three Chozo Lore were lined up on the opposite wall. I scanned them all and, by going through a few menus on the Visor, was able to read them all at once. _We have made a significant progression in our effort to purge the Phazon from our kin. While we haven't figured out a way to turn the Ghosts back, we _have_ found how to purge the Phazon from those not yet turned, and while it is a selfish step forward it is a step nonetheless. We have ensured that we will be able to keep working on our kin's plight without succumbing to it ourselves, and the cure we have discovered for ourselves is sure to branch off into a cure for them. The cure I am speaking of, of course, has to do with the Shinespark._

_I did not have time, in my last entry, to elaborate on the way to cure bio forms of Phazon. I feel this is important should something unforeseen impede or even halt our research by forcing us away from this planet. During one of my comrades' short breaks, he was playing around with the polarities of one of the Shinespark clusters when he accidentally sent himself, instantaneously, to the far future. He says a moment after arriving in the derelict facility, a wave of energy forced him to his knees. He quickly returned to our time, and after testing himself numerous times for any damage or added mutagens, he found quite the opposite had happened: The Phazon inside of him had reversed charges. It was now a sort of anti-mutagen, able to return beings to their natural state. We managed to extract some of this Anti-Phazon and are planning to introduce it into testing as soon as possible._

_ We have made no progress with the Anti-Phazon testing. The Ghosts seem reluctant to go near it, to say the least, and they seem to physically repel each other, rendering surprise drops ineffective. Infusing some of it into the Power Beam has only caused the energy to split and scatter moments before impact, and filling missiles with the stuff causes them to fly off course. We are beginning to think Anti-Phazon's usefulness ended with the cure for corporeal beings..._

I sighed in disappointment and examined the rest of the small room. In the middle was another elevator platform, and on the opposite wall was a hand scanner. I walked over and pressed it lightly before stepping foot on the platform. It lowered only one level, an ornate door with Chozo writing curling down it's face standing in front of me. "Beyond this door lies power, beyond this door lies dangers. With the thing inside you'll be able to save, both your own and the lives of strangers.", the Visor translated, and I hesitated. Dangers? I've survived this far only by luck and a severe lack of enemies. Did I really want to risk my life for an unknown item? But... if Samus could _accidentally _come back in time by tapping a few keys, I didn't want to know the things Dark Samus could do on purpose. Looking inside myself, I knew that if Dark Samus and the Space Pirates came back in time to savage primitive Earth I wouldn't be cowering away in some refugee camp. I'd be fighting. And I'd need all the help I could get. Gazing at the door a moment longer, I strode confidently toward it and placed my hand on the scanner on the bottom.

I felt a tingling all over a second before my entire body was converted to pure energy, sucked through the door, and reassembled on the other side... then I ran full pelt to the side as a Torizo charged at me. "These Chozo are trying to _fucking_ kill me!", I yelled in outrage to nobody in particular as the statue's impact sent little pieces of the wall flying. _I highly doubt they're trying to kill you, but they're coming pretty close!_, the Voice complained, then shrieked,_ Right!_. I dodged to the right without thinking, and a second later an explosive Item Sphere decimated the spot I was once standing. "They're only _CLOSE_!?", I shrieked, running to the side to avoid a wide yellow energy beam emanating from the thing's mouth. I shot at the opening but it didn't seem to do anything, so I started firing at it's torso. It caught the energy and flung it back at me, which I dodged, then propelled another explosive Item Sphere at me. I rolled toward it to avoid the concussive ballistic, then charged up a Charged Shot and sent it at the thing's stomach. It wasn't able to catch this one, and it impacted the purple area successfully, which flashed red.

Once I figured out exactly how to beat the thing, it was a simple matter of wash, rinse, and repeat - dodge, charge, shoot. Dodge, charge, shoot. The thing went down with much fanfare, clutching it's weak point and groaning miserably as it keeled over heavily. Then it exploded. "Why does everything explode so easily?", I asked with a cough, fanning away the smoke from the Torizo's demise. Once it had cleared sufficiently, I was able to make out a door on the opposite wall of the first. I approached it readily, Power Beam charged and at the ready. "The trial we did place you have overcome, proceed and claim technology new, walk with valor, pride, and - hey! We _weren't _trying to kill you.", the Scan Visor translated, and I stared at the door for a second before placing my hand on the scanner.

An ancient, advanced power source hummed into life, light blossoming under my hand and traveling up the writing and carvings on the surface. It filled everything present on the door and caused the frame to shimmer with light, and as it dimmed the door started to disintegrate. Little motes of light spiraled off into nothingness, and as more of the door disappeared I saw a beam of light shining down on a single object in the small room beyond.

Now, understandably, I had been expecting to see a Power Suit standing there, or perhaps a Zero Suit. But sitting there on a pedestal, light refracting off it's curves, was a small orb. My brow furrowed in puzzlement as the rest of the door vanished, and as I took a step into the room I was able to see past the glare of the reflected light. The orb was small, maybe the size of a dodge ball, and colored light green with white lines crossing it's surface. The lines pulsed with restrained power, the entire thing spinning slowly in midair. I sped up and crossed to the pedestal quickly, examining the thing from all sides. "I give up. What is it?", I asked the Voice after a minute, but the only thing it said was, _Put your hand in it._ "Right. I'm _totally _going to put my hand in a thing that could very well bite it off.", I said sarcastically, and the Voice sighed and said in exasperation, _It's not going to bite your hand off. Just stick your hand in it!_ I glared at an empty space slightly to my right and said, "Fine, but if I come out of this room missing a hand I'm blaming _you_.". I huffed and raised my left hand, flinching back before tentatively reaching toward the orb hovering patiently in front of me.

All at once it jumped from it's position and plastered itself to my arm, completely covering my hand and wrist. I cried out in shock and fear, waving my arm around in the air and banging it against the pedestal as the now-viscous orb started flowing up my arm. _Stop that, you'll break it!_, the Voice chastised, and as it seemed in no way alarmed my actions subsided. The orb had made it's way up to my shirt, and to my puzzlement flowed right over it and continued to my shoulder. It began spreading over my torso, going an inch past the collar before stopping and extending down my right arm to cover it like the left. It left the Power Beam alone, merely spreading over and between my fingers. It joined together to form a ring on my waist before snaking down my legs and over my socks, leaving my shoes intact. The result was a form-fitting, neon green jumpsuit. White lines ran down my arms and legs, meeting to form a ring around my collar before running down my chest and legs. "Is this... a Zero Suit?", I asked the Voice, and to my relief it answered, _Yes. Now stand in the space the pedestal was._ Indeed, the pedestal had slithered into the floor while I was preoccupied with the Zero Suit, leaving a space about a meter in diameter. I stepped to the middle of the space and a tube descended from the ceiling, sealing with a pneumatic hiss. Two robotic hands descended from the ceiling, one holding my hands around my waist and in place while another swiftly pricked my jugular with a needle. Once I was free I put a hand to my neck to try and stem the flow of all my blood leaving my body in seven minutes, but there was nothing there. I couldn't even find the spot I was injected. "Duh. They wouldn't prick a human there if they didn't have a way to stop the bleeding.", I muttered to myself as the tube rose back into the ceiling.

Suddenly, a strong electric shock traveled through the soles of my shoes and into the Zero Suit, which sent it into my body. As my nervous system went haywire I collapsed to prevent serious injury, drawing my tongue back into my mouth to stop myself from biting it. Even with my precautions I still managed to slap myself in the face. A few seconds later another shock, weaker this time, put it to rights, and I laid there for a moments before getting to my feet shakily. "What...off Earth...was _that_?", I asked the Voice between pants, leaning against the wall as it replied, _As I understand it, that tube injected you with hundreds of thousands of tiny little nanobots that infused you with Chozo DNA. The shock gave them power. _I blinked a few times before saying weakly, "Oh...", sitting down heavily. I still had a couple twitches present from the shock, and I took the time needed to let them subside to think about what just transpired. "So...I'm part Chozo now?", I asked the Voice tentatively, and it answered, _Affirmative_.I nodded slowly, making a little 'huh' sound, then asked, "And... is there a Power Suit somewhere here, or uh...", and the Voice replied, _The Zero Suit you've acquired is a comprehensive model. When you come into contact with an existing Power Suit, it will copy the data used to form it. _"Like a computer file being copied to a USB drive.", I summarized weakly, and the Voice said, _Yes, like that._ "Cool.", I admitted, and as the twitches had vanished I stood up and crossed back to the other door, skirting the remains of the Torizo and placing my hand on the scanner. I was sucked through the door and back to the elevator room.

I retraced my steps through the facility quickly, gazing sadly at the Ithrak I killed before continuing to the elevator to the surface. I waved at the hissing mother Ithrak before returning to the lobby, and after a moment's deliberation retrieved all the Beam weapons, plus the Missile Launcher, placing them on the Mandus table. The papers I had cleared to a couch-ish looking thing. A few minutes later I had eliminated the Dark, Light, and Annihilator beams and was in the process of choosing between the remaining four. "Ice, Plasma, Wave and Missile, which one should I chooses?", I sang loopily, "Picking the wrong one could mean death, the right tightens enemies' nooses.". _Very nice. I assume that came from the top of your head?_, the Voice asked approvingly, and I nodded in answer before asking, "What's the most pleasant way to go? Freezing to death, being burned alive, being electrocuted to ashes, or being exploded?". _Uhhh..._ the Voice hummed, and I got the feeling it'd be staring strangely. "Never mind. Anywhere that'd need the other three beams would have the item hidden somewhere nearby. Probably behind a monster. I'll take the Missiles.", I said decidedly, and as per the Voice's instructions I slipped off the Power Beam and placed it next to the Missile Launcher before pressing what looked like a Shuffle button on both of them. The delicate machinery of the weapons undid themselves, retracting half of the Power Beam and Missile Launcher into their casings before pulling the weapons toward each other. They fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces, and with the Plasma Beam I carefully welded them together.

I hummed Metroid's 'Item Get' theme as I stepped out of the facility and into the night, and looking up I was relieved to not see the Leviathan. "She must have knocked it off course.", I thought out loud, and the Voice replied, _Yes, that seems like her probable course of action._ I furrowed my brow and asked, "Hey Voice? After all that's happened, and after all the stuff you've told me... I couldn't possibly have known any of that on my own. I don't think you're just a figment of my imagination, or a delusion. So, ah, what are you?". It didn't answer for a long while, giving me time to trek back through the field to the beach, and just as I was about to give up on getting an answer it answered. _The Chozo Lore was wrong. The Anti-Phazon wasn't ineffective, they just didn't know what it did. Just being near the stuff gave the Chozo Ghosts the insatiable urge to merge with sentient beings. Being as they were locked up, however, they couldn't act on this urge. If they had been able to, they would have experienced something that's only been proven recently., _it said, and it's tone sounded... tortured. "And...and that is?", I asked, just a hint of fear in my voice because I _knew _what it was going to say before it said it. I _knew _what it was. _Their consciousness', buried deep withing the Phazon-stricken minds of the Ghosts, would have been implanted into whatever being they merged with., _theVoice said, and I stuttered, "S-So that means you're...", before trailing off. The Voice got the point though. _Yes. I'm_ _Specimen 241._, it said, _I'm the Chozo Ghost that attacked you._


	4. A Problem and Solution

I stood there a moment, processing the truth that had just issued from the Ghost's metaphorical lips. Then I freaked out, screaming as I shook my head violently then, when that didn't work, tilted it sideways and thumped the side facing the sky. I waited a few seconds, and when the Ghost said smugly,_ Still_ _here., _I screamed, "GET! OUT! OF! MY! HEAD!", and started whacking my forehead with my palm. _The only thing you're doing is giving yourself a headache._, the Ghost drawled, and I stopped the whacking to take a couple deep breaths and calm myself so I could figure everything out. "Okay, calm down Jason. Calm down. The Ghost can't do anything in your head, and if it wanted to hurt you it would have tried to already. In fact, if anything, the Ghost has been _helping _you.", I said to myself, pacing back and forth in the sand as I ranted, "Samus'll know what to do. Yeah, she lived with the Chozo, the most scientifically advanced race in the universe. She can probably take you to a machine that'll get Ghostie outta your head and into a body of his own.". _I'm not amused with the nickname_., the Ghost piped up in an annoyed voice, and I said flatly, "I'm not amused with having you in my head. Your argument is invalid.". _Touchè._, the Ghost grumbled reluctantly as, in slow motion it seemed, Samus' ship descended to the beach once again. At about two hundred feet in the air the ship sped up as it entered the dilation field, touching down on the sand smoothly. A second later the elevator platform lowered to let Samus, in her Zero Suit, disembark her ship and walk toward me. "Alright kid, I've got some questions for... you.", she said, stopping and pausing as she caught sight of my Zero Suit, arm cannon, and eye wear. "I can explain.", I said truthfully, feeling like I just got caught with my hand in the cookie jar as Samus crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. After a second she said, "Alright then. Explain.".

"Okay, uh...after you dropped me off, I got bored and started exploring the forest. Then a Chozo Ghost attacked me.", I started, watching her raise an eyebrow before continuing, "It flew into me, which knocked me backward a few yards, then seemed to just disappear. I got up and ran away from where I was, running and running 'til I almost tripped on a root. I slowed to a jog and looked around at all the plants to distract myself. I saw a banana tree and started to get suspicious, so I looked around and saw all these plants that shouldn't be able to grow together, shouldn't be able to grow in Canada, but were. Then I saw a cyrlic tree.". The other brow rose to meet the first, and I continued, "I knew that cyrlic trees were created by the Chozo, so I knew something was up. I _also _knew that this island wasn't here 'til recently, because people from Vancouver would have found it, found all the plants growing in the same place, found the cyrlic, and told the government, who would have had samples taken from the 'new species'.", making air quotes around 'new species'. "So I kept walking, thinking I'd find some answers further inland, and went left at a fork in the road. It was around this time I started hearing the Voice in my head.". Her surprised expression morphed into one I couldn't place, and I realized how insane that sounded. "It's okay, I'm not crazy. There's a rational explanation.", I said with a crazy-sounding laugh.

"So, left at the fork in the road took me to a Chozo Bio Lab building.", I said, pausing as she went back to surprised before I kept going, "Out front I checked my watch and saw it had only been ten minutes. Now, there was no _way _all that had happened happened in the span of ten minutes, so I figured time had to be messed up. Either way, I went inside the Labs. After turning on the lights with the Voice's help, I found these glasses, which are actually a self-contained Scan Visor, and this mini arm cannon, which was just a Power Beam when I got there. I found out that the Bio Labs weren't for studying Metroids, thank the Gods, but for studying Phazon, or 'the Great Poison' as they called it. They were trying to find a way to cure the Chozo Ghosts. I also found out that the Shinespark isn't just for running fast. If you use something the notes described as 'resembling a tuning fork' to change the frequency the Shinespark crystal resonates energy at, you can change the effect it has. One frequency slows time, one frequency stops time, one frequency brings the user to the future, and one frequency rewinds time.".

"That's where the Labs came from. To help cure the Chozo Ghosts and ultimately stop the poison, the Chozo needed more time. So they built this facility on Earth, where they wouldn't be disturbed, and sent it back in time to get the time they needed. Over and over, I imagine, they went back in time to study the poison and develop a cure. They, ah, failed, obviously. I still had some questions, so I opened a weapons cache with the Voice's assistance, took out a Power beam, and went deeper into the facility. I faced some enemies, nothing particularly hard. Shriekbat dove down, easily killed. Lesser Ithrak dove at me from an alcove in the ceiling, didn't kill it 'cuz it was a mother. Elevator down, and in a long hallway some warning holograms told me two things. There was a failure in the time dilation field and Specimen 241 escaped. So, I reasoned that the failure in the time dilation field was what caused the island to appear in the first place, the dilation itself was what caused time to be all wonky on the island, and Specimen 241 was the Chozo Ghost on the beach.", I listed, ticking them off on my fingers as Samus nodded. I nodded decisively and continued, "I went down the hallway and another Ithrak jumped down at me. This one I killed. Then, at the end of the hall, I sorta-kinda-maybe found the remains of a sixteenth century English village.". Samus merely stared, so I explained, "Voice-in-my-head told me that the Chozo weren't sure about all the effects of the Shinespark, so they 'inconspicuously acquired' the Roanoke Colony for testing.". Her eyes widened considerably and I said, "Inconspicuous indeed. So anyway, I disabled the hologenerator and continued. Three Chozo lore in the next room told me that one, Phazon sent forward in time to the point you destroy Phaaze becomes Anti-Phazon, an anti-mutagen that turns things back to it's natural state, and two, Anti-Phazon physically repels Chozo Ghosts.". She adopted a disappointed expression, and I said airily, "Didn't say the Anti-Phazon didn't do anything.". She brightened, and I continued with my story.

"So, I activated another elevator and it brought me down one floor, to a carved door. It said something about danger and power beyond, and I debated with myself a bit before pressing my hand to the scanner. My entire body was turned to pure energy and sucked to the other side, and I had to fight a Torizo. Easy once I figured out how to beat it. In the final room I found two things. One, this.", I said, gesturing to my attire, then said, "And two, a tube that infused me with Chozo DNA.". She reverted to the confused expression, and I paused before continuing, "I made my way back to the lobby and combined the Power Beam and a Missile Launcher before going back outside. I asked the Voice how it knew everything about the island, and I was able to walk back here before it answered. Apparently, just being near Anti-Phazon allows the hold on the Chozo's consciousness' to be weakened enough for them to influence the Ghosts. And, if the Ghosts ever occupy the same space as another being, the Chozo can transfer themselves into the brain of that being. So, I uh...kinda have a Chozo in my head. Yaaaay...".

I fell silent and waited, Samus simply staring at me vacantly as she processed everything I just told her. Then she broke down laughing. Fell to her knees and clutched her stomach, laughing her head off and her heart out. I let a deadpan expression slip onto my face as I watched the bounty hunter hardened by years of training, isolation, and danger laugh harder than she ever had before. "Are you _quite_ finished?", I asked after a bit, and she suppressed her laughs long enough to hold up a finger and say, "H-Hold on.", before dissolving into another fit of giggles. "Behold, Voice. The great Hatchling destined to purge evil from the universe.", I deadpanned, crossing my arms and raising a brow at the woman in front of me. She was eventually able to compose herself, standing up in a dignified manner as she crossed her arms at me and asked, "Do you _honestly _expect me to believe you have a Chozo in your head?". "Well, why not? The Chozo were able to transcend their physical bodies and exist on a higher dimensional plain until the Leviathan impacted. Why _couldn't _one implant itself into my head?", I argued, and Samus protested, "The science isn't sound.". "Neither is the science behind transcending your physical body.", I countered, and Samus faltered before admitting, "Well, no, but the human brain doesn't have enough room for two consciousness'. Ten percent is used for our thoughts, and the other ninety is used for our automatic bodily functions, like breathing and having our heart beat.". I paused at this, then asked, "Voice? Explanation?". _Ah..._,it started, trying to find the right words before saying,_ Maybe 'transfer' was the wrong word, uhm... Well, I'm not sure about all the technicalities, but it seems that coming into contact with you has freed me from the Ghost and allowed me to transcend to the higher dimensional plain again. However, I'm still linked to the Ghost, and have to keep a strand of myself in contact with you or I'll be pulled back. It's uh... sort of like a boat anchored to the bottom of a rushing river. I have to keep myself tied to you, my anchor to sanity, or the current of Phazon will reclaim me._ I nodded in understanding, then relayed to Samus, "Voice says it's actually _not _in my head,it's more like being in a river. Voice is floating up in that higher dimensional plain, but has to anchor itself to me so the Ghost doesn't pull it back. So I guess that's why it can talk to me. And, Voice? Are you a man or a woman?". It thought for a moment before saying, _Biology would designate me as a male_. I nodded and asked, "And your name?", and he replied, _I...can't seem to remember...hold on...oh, it's Morn'ka!_ "Okay. Chozo male named Morn'ka is anchored to me so Phazon doesn't make him insane again. That's a conversation starter.", I appraised, and no matter how much she would deny it later I _swear _the corners of Samus' mouth twitched upward.

"Right. So, I still have some questions for you.", Samus said, then asked, "How do you know about Phazon and Metroids.". It was more a phrase than a question, but I answered it anyway, "Well, I've no idea how, but it seems humans of this time have precognitive abilities rivaling those of the Chozo. They've predicted your adventures and recorded them in the form of video games. Every planet you've been to, every enemy you've faced, every Ridley battle, all the way up to Phaaze.". Her eyebrow raised again, and she said, "I highly doubt that they predicted _everything_.". I shrugged and admitted, "Probably not. Wanna check?". She crossed her arms and challenged, "Alright then. Zebes, SR388, the Bottle Ship, Dark Aether, Bryyo, Elysea, Norion, and the Alimbic Homeworld.". I put a hand on my chin to think, and a moment later said, "Okay. Zebes you ran through twice to rid the galaxy of Mother Brain and the Metroids, SR388 forced you to be infused with Metroid DNA so you could survive to destroy the X-Parasites, which were by the way the intended prey of Metroids, the Bottle Ship you went to because of a Baby's Cry distress signal sent out to stop the Galactic Federation from silencing everyone on board but was later exploded anyway to rid the galaxy of cold-resistant Metroids and the rest of the bio weapons on board, and the entire dimension of Dark Aether collapsed when you returned Aether's planetary energy. Bryyo you ran through to destroy it's Leviathan, but Elysea you never visited because of it's volatile atmosphere. You _actually _visited SkyTown, a Chozo research facility in the upper atmosphere fitted with an AU which you ran through to gather the components for a thermonuclear bomb to destroy Elysea's Leviathan, Norion you ran through to power up the Planetary Defense Cannon which was needed to destroy it's potential Leviathan, and the Alimbic homeworld you ran through to collect the eight octolithes needed to power the Alimbic Cannon to the Oubliette and defeat Gorea.", counting each off on my fingers. Samus blinked a couple of times and said, "Okay, they predicted everything.". I let out a 'heh', then glanced skyward as something occurred to me.

"Hey Samus, what'd ya do with the Leviathan?", I asked, and she shrugged and said, "I crashed it on the moon, why?". I felt the rotation of the Earth stop as everything in the universe simultaneously exploded violently, reformed, exploded again, and reformed a final time. My eye twitched a second before I said, "Lemme rephrase that. Hey Samus, what'd ya do with the only thing we have that can get you back to your own time?". My eye was able to twitch three more times before she said sheepishly, "Oh.". "Oh. That's all she has to say. Oh.", I said with fake mirth, "She destroys the only thing able to return her to her own time, and the only thing she has to say is 'oh'.". She waved her had at me dismissively and said, "It's fine. The Galactic Federation can help me find another Leviathan and - ", but I cut her off with, "The Galactic Federation isn't formed until 2023, ten years from now, and Phaaze doesn't send out any more Leviathans until 2026, to Tallon IV.". Her brow furrows in thought, then clears as she says, "Maybe the Luminoth can help! Or the Reptilicus!", and I admitted, "Maybe, but what would our visit do to the time stream? We might accidentally let something slip that lets the Lords of Science win Bryyo's civil war, or lets the Luminoth stop the Leviathan. Who knows what we might do to the universe? No, we have to think of something that won't result in a paradox.", pacing back and forth as I thought. "We could dig up one of those Shinespark clusters the Chozo's notes spoke of, but we don't have one of those tuning fork things. Besides, I don't even know how to worka _regular_ tuning fork, let alone an advanced alien one, and I don't know the right frequency for instantaneous time travel. Uhm... ", I trailed off, my brow furrowing it thought before I exclaimed, "Hey, Morn'ka! If the wormhole generator from the Leviathan is still intact, would it be possible to integrate it into Samus' ship?". _Well...I suppose it _is _possible, but something like that would require an immense amount of power, power that's constantly being replenished., _he said as if it was ludicrous to find such an energy source. "Morn'ka?", I asked in a deadpan, and he answered hopelessly,_Yeah?_. "Look a little to my left.", I said, looking over to Samus who was, you guessed it, standing to my left. _Oh_., the Chozo said sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes and walked toward Samus' ship, stopping as a flash of light behind me signified Samus had donned her Power Suit. "Oh yeah.", I said, turning around to face the bounty hunter and laying a hand on her shoulder, "Almost forgot.". The lines on my suit flashed brightly, lines of code running down them as freely as water, and the material rippled as the individual particles reconfigured themselves to accept the suit's molecular bonding agent. A small ding sounded, from where I had no idea as there were no speakers on the Zero Suit, and I resumed my walk to the ship. "Ah...what was that?", Samus asked, her longer strides catching her up to me, and I replied, "Comprehensive adaption. This Zero Suit copies the data of any Power Suit it comes into contact with.". "So...you have a Power Suit now?", she asked, and I nodded as we stepped onto the elevator. It rose into the ship and I crossed to the instrument panel, flipping the switch to open the Communication Channel. "Hello Samus and Jason. What can I do for you?", 242 asked, and I replied in a clerical tone, "Would it be possible for you to instruct us on how to remove the wormhole generator from the Leviathan and attach it to Samus' ship?". 242's head tilted to the side in thought, and after a minute she answered, "It might be possible, yes.". I smiled and said, "Great. Activate _the heading override the Galactic Federation built into the ship _to take us to the moon, would you?", but 242 did no such thing, instead gazing at me in annoyance and saying, "You said that aloud on purpose.". "Oh...did I?", I asked innocently, but 242 only glared at me as the ship took off.


	5. Leaving

Samus' gunship rocketed up, pouring more power into the thrusters to clear the Earth's gravitational field. Sixty-four thousand kilometers up it cleared the exosphere and dropped the thruster output to minimal, the ship not needing _nearly _as much power to propel itself forward in the vacuum of space. Then it shut off completely, trusting Newton's first law of motion to see it safely to the moon as the two people encased in its hull began a heated argument. "You are _not _coming with me back to the future. I have no desire to work with a partner.", Samus reaffirmed coolly, crossing her arms and glaring at me from her place leaning against the captain's chair. I felt special; she had deemed me important enough to remove her helmet for this, and not five minutes after her Power Suit appeared. "Aw, de ickle bounty hunter dunna' wanna partner?", I cooed as if talking to a child, leaning against the wall and holding back a snicker as a glimmer of anger ignited in her eyes, "Das' too bad. De ickle bounty hunter shoulda' thought'a that 'fore she dropped me on a Chozo island.". _Agreed. She should have scanned the island before she left. Guess it slipped her mind._, Morn'ka agreed airily, and my smile grew wider at the Chozo spirit's teasing. Samus raised an eyebrow and said, in that same measured tone, "No. You are not coming back with me, and that's final.", and I put on a defeated face as I 'conceded'. "Oh, ok then. Guess I'll just stay in my time with my Chozo Power Suit and Missile Launcher-Power Beam.", I said sadly, studying my Zero Suit-covered nails before flicking my gaze up to her with a dramatic sigh. She nodded an affirmative as a small smile flitted on her face, confirming, "That's right, you just stay here with your Chozo...Power Suit...that I'm technically... responsible for...". She faltered as she got further into the sentence, staring at me a second longer before she smiled that small smile again. "The Suit won't be a problem, I'll just take you to Zebes and-", she began, but I interrupted by singing loudly, "Paradoxes, paradoxes, la la la la la la!". She gave me a deadpan glare as she thought about this, then tried, "The Galactic Federation will-", but I interrupted again with, "Do nothing because they don't exist yet. Plus, I'd still be part Chozo _and _have Morn'ka anchored to me.". The bounty hunter's eyes saddened as she prepared to deal what she supposed was a crushing blow.

"What...what about your family?", she asked hesitantly, softly as the evening breeze, and her words caused my triumphant smile to falter. She probably thought I hadn't thought of that... hadn't been in constant war with my feelings and my knowledge of what I had to do. Swallowing hard and taking a shaky breath, I managed to get out a, "Heh…About that.". She stood up a little straighter, and I had no doubt she was somehow anticipating what I was going to say. "No. One is bad enough, but-", and for the third time, I interrupted her. "Do you really think Dark Samus doesn't know about me?", I cut in, expressionless, "That she hasn't been watching our every move, the both of us? She most likely already knows about my Zero Suit, about how I could be a potential threat.". I took a breath, my façade cracking slightly, and continued, "And do you really think for one second that she wouldn't kill them after me just for the hell of it? They...they _need _to come.". Samus simply stared at me. She stared and stared and stared some more, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was trying her damnedest to not think of K-2L. Judging by the tears welling up in her eyes, she failed. "Alright.", she said faintly, clearing her throat before trying again, "Alright. They can come.". I managed a small smile in her direction before I turned to the viewport. Our argument had taken up enough time to reach the dark side of the moon, where the wreckage of the Leviathan sat. As the thrusters padded our descent into the Leviathan, which had fortunately landed opening-side up, I took a deep breath and tried something I had been slightly scared to do since we had boarded the gunship. I spoke a single command in my head: _Power Suit activate_.

Now, I know that Samus was said to need great concentration to hold her Power Suit online, but apparently the Chozo on the island had taken my lack of training into account. That single command sparked a thousand artificial synapses into life as the Zero Suit heard my command through the neural link and began synthesizing my very own Power Suit. The Zero Suit began to glow as it expended energy in the form of light, a small beep coming from it before it began the energy-to-matter conversion. Black ribbing quickly materialized over my body, no doubt to aid me in moving the heavy Suit. White light coated my ribbed legs and dimmed as it solidified as a bright orange metal, continuing to spread across my torso. It skipped my chest and moved to travel down my arms, gaps left for joints so I could actually, you know, move. Then the light formed the chest plate, a dark blue color with a neon yellow less-than sign over my heart. The shoulder pads grew from the sides of the chest plate, arcing downward slightly and, disappointingly, not circular. I closed my eyes as the light coated my head, waiting a second before a cool female voice said into my ear, "Suit materialization complete. Powerup initiated.". I opened my eyes to see my visor flicker on, the HUD elements fading in quickly. The radar, my energy tank meter, the mini-map, my missiles, my beam options, and my visors lined my vision, not big enough to distract me but not small enough that I wouldn't notice them. "Cooool...", I breathed, raising my gloved left hand and flexing it experimentally. It moved without resistance. I took a couple of steps, amazed at how light the suit seemed to be, and smiled.

"No time for experimenting, we have a time-space wormhole generator to integrate.", Samus said seriously, and I nodded once before commanding, "Power Suit, interface with Samus' gunship and establish a link to the communications beacon. Contact Aurora Unit 217.", and after Samus apparently gave her permission it actually worked, to my slight surprise. The call icon appeared on the left side of the visor, and a moment later 217's voice filtered through the suit's inner speakers. "Ah, Samus and Jason. Are you ready to begin the extraction and integration?", she asked, and Samus answered shortly, "Affirmative.". "Excellent. Wormhole generation is a function of the Leviathan itself, not the Phazon Core, so defeating the Core would not have damaged the generator. Unfortunately, the subsequent crash may have. Before extracting and integrating, you two will have to ascertain the integrity of the generator and, if necessary, perform repairs.", 217 explained, but I still wasn't clear on something. "Um, 217? If the generator is organic, won't it start to deteriorate?", I asked, and 217 paused before saying, "Yes, but you only need to get it back here so we can study and replicate it.". I glanced at Samus and drew my thumb across my throat, shaking my head vigorously, and she gave me a hurried thumbs down. The _last _thing the universe needed was the Galactic Federation having access to the time stream. "Alright, first thing's first. You two will need to enter the Leviathan and find the Wormhole Generator.", 217 was saying, "After that I'll give you further instruction.". "Right, on our way. Thanks 217!", I said cheerfully, already hopping my way across the platforms.

"Too bad current satellites can't penetrate Leviathans. I would _love _a map of this place.", I expressed, looking around at the wrecked hallway before shrugging and conceding, "Ah well, we'll just have to make due with knowing which way is forward on this thing.". I made my way over to the door, promptly shooting it open and moving forward with Samus following quickly behind. The hallway beyond was devoid of any of the usual hindrances, cleared by Samus on her first run through, so we made it to the second door unmolested. The large room beyond was splattered with Phazon, the source being the partially-kersploded core, and we carefully avoided the slightly-moving puddles as we made our way to the other side of the room. I crossed my arms as I studied the wall carefully, but Samus just moved me aside and began cutting into the fleshy obstruction with her Plasma Beam. "Knew I should have taken it…", I mumbled as the flap she was carving flopped down onto the ground in front of us to reveal a spider. It was no ordinary spider, though. It had four eyes, two solid black, one solid blue, and one solid pink. It had the usual eight legs, and two thoraxes. There was the one its head was attached to, and then there was another one. It was clear, slightly bigger than the first one, and inside swirled pink and blue mist. Below its eyes were a multitude of tentacles that reminded me of the other Leviathan, the one from that Disney Atlantis movie. It turned to face us and promptly launched itself at my face.

"AUGH!", I cried, falling backward and clawing at it as it scuttled all over my helmet. Nearby I could hear Samus laughing, and a moment later I had successfully pulled it off. "Thanks for the help.", I said haughtily as I examined the squirming creature. "Is this it?", I asked, turning it slightly to examine it from all sides as I activated my Scan Visor. _Spatial Arachnid,_ it reported, _integral yet independent part of the Leviathan__'__s biology. Emits two energy signatures: one unidentified signature and on similar to that of the Shinespark_. "Yep, this is probably it.", I concluded happily, and the thing wriggled free of my grasp and pounced my face again. "AUGH!".

I emerged from the Leviathan beside Samus, a flat look on my face as I glanced up at my head. The Arachnid had settled on my helmet, and every time I removed the thing it simply jumped right back. I had finally just thrown up my hands, sighed, "Fine.", and let it be. Anyway, we made it back to the ship and stepped onto the elevator. "Alright 217, we have the Arachnid. What now?". "Arachnid?", 217 asked with a raised eyebrow, and I kneeled in front of the holo-projector to 217 could see the spider. "Oh. It's…alive.", 217 said, sounding surprised, "Well, that'll make things more complicated…".

I facepalmed.

"You people are creativity-deficient.", I stated matter-of-factly, "Just use Mr. Metroid again and reroute the power through to the munitions factory on board. Infuse it into a Ship Missile and shoot it with the remote detonator set to five seconds.", as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was, at least to me. At their surprised looks I stated, "You people think too analytically.", as I sat in the Captain's chair. I pressed the button to lower the code screen and reached up, instructing my Power Suit in what to do and letting the automatic systems take over. It manipulated my fingers into typing very quickly indeed, and it was less than a minute later that the artificial Metroid lowered over my head. I slumped down so the fangs pierced the back thorax of the Arachnid, and the pink and blue mist was sucked into them. The Arachnid became docile and quiet, more than likely trying to reproduce the energy stolen from it, and I gently removed it from my head. I crossed the small space of the cockpit and I placed the spider on a ledge. I retrieved a blanket from the emergency supplies kept on board and made it into a little bed, lifting the spider up and placing it on the blanket. It looked up at me with an almost appreciative look before snuggling into itself and seemingly falling asleep. I found myself grinning at the somewhat-cute thing, and Samus nudged me and gestured to the console. The munitions production had finished, and the Ship Missile was ready.

Now came the time I was dreading most. More than eventually having to face Dark Samus, more than the thought of dying. Now came the time…to talk to my parents.

* * *

The ship's scanners located them pretty easily. They were in the middle of being interrogated by the police, the FBI not wanting to get involved with something that could be a hoax _quite _yet, and that just made things all the more complicated. I deactivated my Power Suit and instructed my Zero Suit to move my clothes to it's outside. No need to provoke any unnecessary questions. Samus landed the ship about a mile away, and together we began trekking toward my parents and almost certain doom. Not that the two were any different, mind you.

My mother launched herself at me with a cry of relief, checking me over for any injuries. My brother and sister 'admonished' me, telling me that my parents were worried sick and asking 'where was I you idiot'? The police immediately attempted to restrain Samus, but she shrugged them off like a jacket. "Come on honey, let's go home. ", Mom said, and I immediately stopped. "Can't.", I said simply, and she looked at me questioningly. "Well why not?", she asked with a slight hiccup of a laugh, and I replied, "Because we're leaving.". "This isn't the time for jokes, Jason. Come on.", Dad interjected, but I merely looked at him and said, "I agree, this is no time for jokes. We'll be able to stop by to get anything you may want to get, but after that we're leaving.". Dad got angry a bit, but Mom asked curiously, "Leave for where, honey?". I glanced around at the police meaningfully as I said, "Not exactly sure yet, but I'm sure Sam will tell us when we get going.". "Sorry son, but we can't let you go off with a potentially dangerous criminal.", one of the policemen said, and I turned my gaze on him. "Yes, because that makes _perfect _sense.", I said derisively, "She's the one who helped me find my family. If she was a criminal, or a kidnapper, she could have just taken me.".

"Be that as it may, we can't let you _or _her leave. We have some questions for both of you.", the cop said, probably thinking that would end the discussion. I sighed and tried to _not _take the easy way out. "Look, I understand that. Really I do. But the fact of the matter is, we're leaving for a very important reason, and there's nothing you can do to stop us.", I said, and the cop blinked before not-so-subtly laying a hand on his gun. "Sure about that, kid?", he asked dangerously, and I laughed before letting the Zero Suit take over my nervous system. I darted forward and swept the cop's feet out from under him, plucking the gun from it's holster while pushing him to the ground by his chest. I pressed the gun to his forehead and said pleasantly, 'Yes, I'm quite sure.". The other cops merely gaped, and that let an unnoticed Samus take their guns from them easily. "Where oh where has the quality of police gone?", I lamented, "Honestly, you all just let two _civilians _disarm you. You should be ashamed.". Okay, so we weren't exactly civilians, per se, but oh well.

The police all checked their holsters quickly and, finding their guns gone, looked at Samus and I sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and let the cop under my hand up, discreetly emptying the bullets out of the gun before placing it back in the holster. The guy glared at me with undisguised loathing as Samus made a big show of doing the same, gutting and criticizing the police's effectiveness in one fell swoop. "So!", I suddenly said, "Time to go, I think.". I got in the driver's seat of my family's car, having gotten my G1 some days previously, and waited for the others to join me. Samus hopped in the front seat, my parents got the middle bench seat, and my siblings crawled into the back. I started the car and waved cheerfully at the cops before pulling away down the road. In the rear-view mirror I saw the guy I disarmed pulling out his gun and making to shoot the tires, then looking confused when nothing happened. I waved my arm to get his attention, then dropped the bullets I had pilfered. His face scrunched up in rage and he started screaming. I chuckled, waiting until we were out of sight before slowing down, veering off the road, and making my way back to the ship. "Where are we going?", Melissa asked, and I replied, "To our mode of transportation. Samus, did you ever get around to installing a cloaking device?". She nodded the affirmative, and I sighed, "Good. Wouldn't do for us to be spotted.".

I pulled into the clearing the ship was in and stopped, getting out and taking the keys (just in case). "Now, I assume you're all wondering what this is?", I asked, and without waiting for an answer I said, "This is Samus' Hunter-class gunship. We'll be using it to reach our destination.". "Where's our destination?", Arthur asked, and I said simply, "Here.". His brow furrowed in confusion, but I continued blithely, "Now, if you had asked _when's _our destination, I would have said around the year 2078.". My family looked at me as if I was crazy, but I simply said,"Come on, no time to waste.", and turned to the spaceship.

"Now hold on a minute!", Dad yelled, "We're not going anywhere, or anywhen for that matter, until you tell us why!". I froze. Telling them why would get them to come, but it would also terrify them. They'd always be looking over their shoulders, waiting for an attack. Then again, Samus _was _about to destroy Phaaze when she came to this time... "There's a murderer after Samus and I.", I said shortly, leaving most of the truth out to make it more believable, "She's threatening the universe in Samus' time, and Samus was about to destroy the source of her power when she was sent here.". I knew even without looking that their eyes were wide with fear. "She knows that Samus is coming for her, and she knows that I have the power to help. She'll try to neutralize the threat I pose, and the easiest way to do that is through you.". I looked up at the sky, then around at the trees, as if I could somehow see the Phazon construct that was probably spying on us. "She's probably watching us right now.", I added, letting a tremor enter my voice for their benefit. I wasn't scared of Dark Samus, but I _was _scared of what she'd do to my family. And if the thought that I was scared pushed them into coming, well...I was okay with that.

Spinning around, I clapped my hands together and said cheerily, "Alright children, onto the ship! Make you way through the door into the back, don't touch anything, and don't bother the sleeping spider.". Melissa and Arthur, thoroughly terrified by my speech, scampered past me and onto the elevator, Samus stepping on after them to help get them situated. I opened my mouth and took a breath to say something, but was cut off by Pirate Troopers slipping out of the forest. "Shit!", I cursed loudly, pushing my parents behind me and activating my Power Suit, "Get to the ship, now!". They began to protest, but complied quickly when the Pirates started shooting. I growled and began returning fire, only beginning to dodge when the elevator ascended with my parents. I shot a Charged shot at one and a few Missiles at a couple more, moving out of the way of as many shots as I could. I backed onto the elevator, still shooting, and was lifted up into the ship even as it started moving.

"Well, at least we know this wasn't for nothing.", I commented dryly as I leaned against Samus' chair. My parents sat behind me, not trusting their legs to keep them upright in a moving spaceship. Samus activated the cloaking device and shot off quickly, passing over my town without even slowing down. "We have to lose them before we visit the house. They'll probably torch it anyway, but just in case.". I braced myself against the chair while still keeping my casual pose as Samus began her evasive maneuvers, dodging the blasts from the Pirate ships. A variety of hisses and dull thumps sounded around us as the ship pressurized itself, and then we dove into the sea just off the coast of Prince Edward Island. I admired the scenery as shots rained down around us, illuminating the seafloor in strange and bright colors. Finally the assault died off, but just to be sure was skirted around the northern edge of Canada and the Arctic to resurface off the coast of British Columbia. All in all this took a couple of hours, and the sky was just beginning to lighten when we became airborn again.

"Well, that was exciting.", I noted as we made a beeline for the house, "Now, you four are going to want to make a mental list of everything you want to save from the house. I'm getting Phoenix, my laptop, my various hard and USB drives, and the video game stuff so Melissa and Arthur have something to do.". They nodded mutely and began to think. I myself went back to where my siblings were seated, having deactivated my Power Suit, and asked gently, "How are you guys holding up?". They looked up at me silently, tear tracks visible on their faces, and I bit my lip. "It's okay guys, this won't last long.", I promised, "We'll get to the future, we'll set you all up with someplace to stay, I'll hook up the video games so you guys aren't bored, and then Samus and I'll go off the Phaaze to sort this mess out. Nothing to worry about.". This didn't seem to help any, so I said to Arthur, "Hey, we're going to the future, right? Imagine what kind of video games they have!". He brightened a bit. "And Melissa, I for one can't wait to hear what music in the future is like.", I said to her, and she too became less forlorn. "There ya go.", I said brightly, "Now, we're just gonna make a quick stop at the house to get some stuff, and then we'll be off.". I left them smiling and talking about what they'd expect the future to be like.

Talking to them had let us reach the house, but we couldn't exactly land. Samus backtracked the ship to the park a block away, and we disembarked there. I insisted on going first, saying that there could be an ambush waiting, and they agreed. I took out fifteen Troopers, twelve Aerotroopers, and an Omega pirate before I deemed that there was nothing else there. Even so I cautioned them to hurry, saying that more than likely an alarm had been raised. I myself gathered up the Wii, my and my brother's 3DS', my laptop, and everything that went with them. I put all of this into a reusable grocery bag so I could also pick up a portable monitor, because who knew if the Wii's cables would be compatible with future TVs? I met my parents in the kitchen where they had various important documents like health cards and passports, and anything else they didn't want destroyed, along with a sizable chunk of money. I smiled and called for Phoenix, attaching his collar and handing it to my Dad. With that we locked up and left, not once looking back at the house I grew up in.

...Okay, maybe once or twice.


End file.
